Search for Lena E. Mendelsohn

1

A SEARCH FOR LENA E. MENDELSOHN
by
Elliott L. Slocum, Georgia State University
Richard G. Vangermeersch, University of Rhode Island
During much of the Twentieth Century,
public accounting was considered to be a
man's profession. Few women had the
fortitude or opportunity to challenge the
system which generally discriminated
against their practice of public accounting.
Several papers have identified women
pioneers in accountancy and others have
documented the difficulties women faced in
becoming Certified Public Accountants
(CPA) and practicing professionally, (i.e.,
Buckner and Slocum, 1985; Davidson,
1950; Jones, 1927; Lehman, 1992; Quire,
1947; Slocum and Buckner, 1984; Trail,
1925; and Webster, 1945.) Most of these
papers have said a little or nothing of Lena E.
Mendelsohn, although she is referred to by
Meyers and Koval (1994) as "...a woman
pioneer in the professional accounting
field,...a well-known CPA in Boston." (p.
29) Other than a few references to her in the
literature, little is known about Mendelsohn.
Mendelsohn was a pioneer, who, by
achieving some degree of success in the
practice of accounting, contributed in the
early years to the long and difficult struggle
by women to take their rightful place in the
profession of accountancy. As a woman and
of Jewish heritage, she undoubtedly faced
many barriers. Yet, she was approximately
the twenty-fifth woman to receive the CPA
certificate in the United States, and she
conducted her own practice for fifteen years,
during which time she achieved recognition
and respect among her peers.
This paper reports on the initial research
into the life and contributions of Lena E.
Mendelsohn. Unfortunately, much remains a
mystery regarding her life, education, and
practice of accounting. To place her
contributions in proper context, a brief
description of the environment in which
Mendelsohn practiced is included. It is not
the purpose of this paper to identify or to
evaluate the various reasons used to
discriminate against women's entry into
public accounting. These have been
documented by other research (i.e., Hoele,
1932; Lehman, 1992; Leuck, 1938;
Mendelsohn, 1920; Priester, 1940; Quire,
1947; "Women in Accountancy," 1923;
"What Militates Against Them," 1923), and
this paper accepts that such discrimination
existed for much of this century.
A Hostile Environment
Smedley and Robinson (1945) noted
that some of the conservative members of the
accounting profession must find the success
of women in accountancy to be a profound
shock. They stated that:
Accountancy in the United States
inherits a good part of its traditions
and mores from the British Isles,
and the idea of a woman entering
this sacred male sphere is, to a
British accountant, just this side of
preposterous. American accountants
are only slightly less prejudiced.
Nevertheless, despite the growls of
dismay, women began to enter the
field about 1900,.... (p. 162)
Women gained some acceptance in
accounting positions within business
organizations and governmental agencies
in the early part of this century. However,
acceptance in public accounting, particularly
in large accounting firms, was not generally
forthcoming until much later. Hatcher
(1927) stated that, in spite of the success
women have achieved in accountancy,
conditions made it a "disadvantageous"
profession for women. "..., women book-
10 The Accounting Historians Notebook, Spring 1996